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- Heuer, V. B., et al.
(författare)
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Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 370:6521, s. 1230-1234
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Microorganisms in marine subsurface sediments substantially contribute to global biomass. Sediments warmer than 40 degrees C account for roughly half the marine sediment volume, but the processes mediated by microbial populations in these hard-to-access environments are poorly understood. We investigated microbial life in up to 1.2-kilometer-deep and up to 120 degrees C hot sediments in the Nankai Trough subduction zone. Above 45 degrees C, concentrations of vegetative cells drop two orders of magnitude and endospores become more than 6000 times more abundant than vegetative cells. Methane is biologically produced and oxidized until sediments reach 80 degrees to 85 degrees C. In 100 degrees to 120 degrees C sediments, isotopic evidence and increased cell concentrations demonstrate the activity of acetate-degrading hyperthermophiles. Above 45 degrees C, populated zones alternate with zones up to 192 meters thick where microbes were undetectable.
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- Beulig, F., et al.
(författare)
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Rapid metabolism fosters microbial survival in the deep, hot subseafloor biosphere
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A fourth of the global seabed sediment volume is buried at depths where temperatures exceed 80 °C, a previously proposed thermal barrier for life in the subsurface. Here, we demonstrate, utilizing an extensive suite of radiotracer experiments, the prevalence of active methanogenic and sulfate-reducing populations in deeply buried marine sediment from the Nankai Trough subduction zone, heated to extreme temperature (up to ~120 °C). The small microbial community subsisted with high potential cell-specific rates of energy metabolism, which approach the rates of active surface sediments and laboratory cultures. Our discovery is in stark contrast to the extremely low metabolic rates otherwise observed in the deep subseafloor. As cells appear to invest most of their energy to repair thermal cell damage in the hot sediment, they are forced to balance delicately between subsistence near the upper temperature limit for life and a rich supply of substrates and energy from thermally driven reactions of the sedimentary organic matter. © 2022, The Author(s).
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